With The Best Intentions
by GaeilgeRua
Summary: Rumours that started when Hermione, Marcus, and Percy went to Canada on a business trip cause the trio to make a plan.


Written for Hermione's Haven's July 21st Roll-A-Drabble. The theme was threesomes, and the trio I received was Hermione Granger/Marcus Flint/Percy Weasley with fake dating as the trope.

Many thanks go out to Meiri and xxDustNight88 for their amazing help. Any errors after their help are my own.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone recognisable from the HP world.

 _BRITISH DELEGATION CLOSER THAN THEY SAY! IMAGES BELOW!_

 _Ever since the British delegation arrived two weeks ago, all eyes have been on the players, but I'm here to tell you, my dear readers, that my eyes have been on the three Ministry representatives. And for good reason, because there's more to that trio than meets the eye. A little birdie told me their separate hotel rooms might actually be a ruse. Story continues on page A7._

Hermione stared in shock at the images that followed the short, eye-catching paragraph. The way each image was taken, definitely showed that there was more going on between her and her coworkers than there really was. Narrowing her eyes, she stormed across her hotel room and knocked on the door connecting to the room next to hers.

It was a few moments of grumbling, bedding shifting, and feet shuffling across the floor before the door opened.

Dark eyes glared at her. "Merlin, Granger, do you know how early it is?"

She raised a slim eyebrow at the wizard standing before her. "Yes, I do. I've been up for an hour already."

"An hour?" A second voice questioned from the other occupied bed in the room. Percy's mop of red hair popped from beneath the covers to squint at the clock between the two beds. His eyes widened as he turned to look at the two standing in the doorway. "Hermione, it's not even half six. We don't have to be anywhere until ten today."

"I know," she replied. "I just couldn't sleep for some reason. But that's not why I'm here," she held up the newspaper, shaking it loudly, " _this_ is why I'm here."

"Stop shaking it, witch," Marcus growled as he reached for the paper in her hand. His eyes glanced over the section in question before he burst into hearty chuckles.

Crossing her arms, Hermione glared at the large wizard."This is not a laughing matter, Flint!"

Sobering up enough to talk, Marcus said, "Actually, it is. This is all bullshit, just like what we'd see back home in _The Prophet_. Just ignore it."

"We're Ministry representatives, we can't just ignore something like this!"

"Hermione," Percy said from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "What's going on? What does the paper say?"

"That the three of us are in some kind of relationship! It's absolute codswallop."

"As Marcus said, the English paper here in Quebec is just like _The Prophet_ back home. It prints what will sell papers. If it will make you feel better, I can look at the French paper I get every morning. It's better than the English."

"Yes, please," Hermione replied.

"Sure." Climbing from his bed, Percy made his way to the main door of his and Marcus' hotel room. He picked up the newspaper in question and glanced at it. The redhead frowned.

"What is it? What does it say? Does it say the same thing?"

Without looking over his shoulder, he answered Hermione's last question. "Oui," he mumbled, reading front page article. It took his still sleepy brain a few seconds to realise he'd responded in French rather than English. "I mean, yes, it pretty much says the same thing as the English paper. That's really strange. They normally don't print articles like this."

"What are we going to do?" Hermione demanded.

Marcus sat on the end of his bed and buried his head in his hands. "We don't have to _do_ anything," he replied. "There's nothing going on between us. And even if there was, it's no one's business but our own."

"When has that stopped the media?" Hermione questioned looking at him. "Or the masses for that matter."

The room fell silent for a few moments before Percy spoke up, "Why don't we give them something to really talk about?"

Hermione spun to face the redhead. "What?!"

"Weasley's right," Marcus agreed as he too looked at the other wizard.

"No," Hermione refused.

"Why not?" Percy questioned.

Hermione shifted from left to right. "Because–"

Marcus cut her off, "Because you don't want people thinking you're dating a former Slytherin?"

"No," she shook her head, "that's not it. I dated Terence for nearly two years, remember?"

Percy dropped his paper on the table behind him. He walked over to where Hermione was still standing awkwardly in the open doorway. "Hermione, what is it? What's bothering you?"

She bit into her lower lip as she tried to decide if she could trust the two of them with her insecurities. Releasing the hold her teeth had on her bottom lip, the words came tumbling out. "If we fake a relationship, the two of you will be lauded while my name will be dragged through the mud."

"Why do you say that?"

"For breaking Ron's heart all over again, for being a gold digging trollop, for leading you both on. Take your pick."

Marcus stood back up and joined the duo. "If anything gets printed about you like that, then we'll sue whatever paper printed such rubbish. If we do this, then all three of us are in it together. Meaning Weasley and I will be there for you."

"Yes, we will," Percy agreed.

Hermione looked back and forth between the two wizards.

"Everything will be fine, Hermione," Marcus said. "We'll pretend to date for a few months and at some point, we'll quietly break up and the world will never know the whole thing was a ruse."

Percy reached out and squeezed her hand. "Come on, Hermione. We can do this."

She hesitated for a seconds longer before she nodded her head. "Okay, but we need to set some rules."

"We wouldn't expect anything less."

hr

 _FORMER BRITISH WORLD CUP DELEGATES WED_

 _Four years after the news of their triadic relationship broke, the famous war veterans wed in a simple ceremony on the grounds at Flint Manor._

 _Hermione Granger was resplendent in an understated champagne wedding dress as both Marcus Flint and Percy Weasley wore traditional black dress robes. (Image below)_

 _Story continues on page A3 for full details of their special day along with additional images._


End file.
